Re: Ubuntu (Linux); my first experience of...

On a sunny day (Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:24:05 +0000) it happened Paul Burke
<paul@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in <54itmfF20m09rU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

Robin wrote:

I thought that the future would be the Mac but now I am not so sure,
even Linux stands a chance. No way is it going to be Vista.


I've had just a little experience lately of Linux, though I've known
about it for a long time. While it is obviously very capable, it has a
few huge hurdles before it can compete with Windows or OSX for the
ordinary user.

I cannot question your personal experiences, but a few comments from a
13 year long Linux user.


- you (and I) have a DSL connection. You need it with Linux,

If you bought something like a Suse or Redhat distro, it comes
on one or more DVDs, and should have most libraries.

installed as well as the desired application. The only way to get them
easily is a good fast internet connection, which makes Linux a
first-world only luxury

There is some truth in that, Linux is always a bit at the front ;-)
I personally have said goodbye to the huge packages, I use grml from
www.grml.org, completely modified by me of course.
Notice it says it 'is for geeks'.


you wouldn't want to risk being in the African
bush, say, and find that all your teaching materials or survey software
need a 40Mb dependency download.

Makes no sense, you would not go there unprepared, same problem with MS soft,
no jungle shop.
You would install and test your soft before you mounted the crocodile.


- the utter supercilious unhelpfulness of much of the Linux community.

That is simply not true.
It is true that nobody knows everything about many millions lines of source,
and zillions of applications.
Anyways I very rarely ask something, maybe you need to read the right groups,
get a good book on Unix, use google when you are not playing with elephants.


The most common response to a problem is "RTFM"

Exactly, there are thousands of pages of documentation, do you want somebody
else do read them for you? And do the googling?

Having said that, I've now got a reasonably well- functioning
development setup. I'm not going to distribute my programs, they will
just go out ready installed in equipment, so I don't have to worry much
about that side of it. and I save £60 per system.

If you use open source GPL stuff, then you STILL will have to make the sources publicly
availabe.
One final remark, when I started with Linux -0.98 or so, I had to write many of the apps
I needed myself.
Even this newsreader.

Unlike some big players like Suse-Balmer and Rathead, *I* have never suggested that Linux
should be a MS clone type of desktop.
*I* have suggested that people learn Unix, about its structure and filesystem, etc..

Like driving a car, you need training.
Those who buy into the MS clone type of desktop thingy will only know how to mouse,
and perhaps write a simple script.

Linux is in my view a very powerful OS, but that power is only available if you know how to
use it.
It has an enormous learning curve, that _never_ ends, as millions of programmers keep
enhancing it day in day out.

But my view is: If you take from the open source community then:
1) you have no rights, you only use my work.
2) Would it not be nice if you, in turn, also contributed something,
that would be nicer then being a complainer.
So if you see something you think can be done better, or more suited to what *your* view
of the world is, THEN WRITE IT.
And make it available.
That is how it grows.

.

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